In recent years we are experiencing trends that lead more and more people to consider new food models. It can be for health, respect for animals, or concern for the environment; everyone is free to follow the diet that best conforms to their principles and are all respectable. Now, what difference does each one of them make?
Imagine that you organize a dinner at home. One guest tells you that they are API vegetarian, another is declared a strict vegan, and another person points out that they follow a paleo diet. Would you distinguish how to organize the menu without creating conflicts at the table? Get rid of doubts with this guide on the main diets to know what foods each one includes.
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Vegetarians
It is undoubtedly the best-known type of diet, although it generates the most confusion because its boundaries are often blurred. Essentially, vegetarians reject meat and fish entirely, with vegetables, legumes, fruits, grains, nuts, and seeds being the basis of their diet.
Nowadays, however, they are usually differentiated from vegans because it remains understood that a vegetarian diet can include certain foods from animals, such as dairy products. Today, almost all cookbooks and restaurants state that a dish is “vegetarian,” including cheese or butter.
Ovolactovegetarians
That brings us to the second most common but least used definition, Ovo-Lacto-vegetarianism. A word somewhat complicated to pronounce but that alludes to what remains currently understood as a vegetarian diet.
A Lacto-Ovo vegetarian does not eat meat, fish, or seafood but allows eggs and dairy on his plate. Although they may prefer vegetable alternatives, especially in milk, it is usual to maintain eggs and cheeses. Of course, they care about choosing products of sustainable origin, such as eggs from free-range chickens or local and organic cheeses.
Two New Options Can Remain Derived From This Model:
Ovo-vegetarians. They also reject all dairy but can continue to eat eggs.
Lactovegetarians. On the contrary, they do not consume eggs either, but dairy products and their derivatives.
Apivegetarians
The prefix API- comes from the Latin APIs, “bee,” and is used in many terms derived from the breeding of this insect. As honey is a product for a more specific use, it remains not usually considered when discussing vegetarian food. Still, since its origin is animal, it can also generate conflict.
In this way, we can find people who declare themselves apivegetarians if they admit to the consumption of honey. As in the case of eggs, typically, an apivegetarian will choose locally and sustainably produced honey.
Raw Vegan
Raw veganism defends that food should remain consumed in its natural state, that is, raw, to preserve its nutrients as much as possible and avoid losing them through the usual cooking techniques. Also known as the primary or raw diet, it does admit specific culinary techniques, as long as the temperature to which the food remains subjected does not exceed 40º-42ºC.
There is also the raw non-vegan option; We are then talking about raw food eaters who admit to consuming animal products, including meat or fish, following the principles of this diet.
